The present invention relates to a refuse receptacle having an outer container with a lid closing an insertion opening in the upper region, including a foot pedal which is attached to the refuse receptacle and the actuation of which enables the lid of the refuse receptacle to be moved into an opening position, the foot pedal being of annular design and running at a distance around the outer container and being arranged in the lower region thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,229,777 describes a refuse receptacle of the generic type mentioned at the beginning. In this known refuse receptacle; an essentially cylindrical outer housing is provided and the foot pedal for opening the lid is annular and runs at a little distance around the outer housing in the lower region thereof. However, this annular foot pedal is mounted in an articulated manner at two points on the outer housing and is therefore pressed down on one side in order to open the lid, said foot pedal then moving upward in the region lying 180° opposite, when viewed on the circumference of the outer housing. It is thus a pivoting movement about two pivot points having an imaginary, horizontal pivot axis which extends radially through the refuse receptacle. The opening of the lid takes place via rods which, when the foot pedal is depressed in the front region, are raised in the rear region of the lid owing to the pivoting movement and then use their upper end to raise the lid. In this design, the opening of the foot pedal can only take place by treading down the front half-ring, which lies in front of the two pivot points. The foot pedal cannot be depressed at all in the region of the pivot points. On the rear half-ring on the other side of the pivot points, opening of the lid would theoretically be possible just by raising the foot pedal with the foot, but this is not envisaged. It follows from this that, in this design of the foot pedal, the opening is envisaged only approximately in the front, central region of the annular foot pedal lying between the two pivot points. The pivotable mounting in the region of the two pivot points means that a linear depression of the foot pedal is not possible. The applicant's earlier patent application DE 101 55 942.9, which has not been published before the date of the present application and was applied for on Nov. 14, 2001, describes a refuse receptacle having an annular foot pedal in which it is in principle possible to depress the foot pedal in an approximately linear movement in order to open a lid of the refuse receptacle. This has the advantage that the foot pedal can be trodden down at any desired point of its circumference in order to open the lid. In this known design, the ring of the foot pedal is mounted at a number of points, as viewed over the circumference, and movable actuating elements are mounted on the foot pedal and, when the latter is depressed, reach under the bottom of an inner container of the refuse receptacle and raise said container. The outer container of the refuse receptacle retains its position. Lifting of the inner receptacle ultimately causes the lid to be raised. This solution has proven less suitable for mass production.
The object of the present invention is to provide a refuse receptacle of the generic type mentioned at the beginning, in which the foot pedal can be depressed from any desired point of the circumference, and structurally simple manufacturing is possible and is suitable for mass production. This object is achieved by a novel refuse receptacle of the generic type mentioned at the beginning having the defining features of the main claim. The invention makes provision for the foot pedal to be designed in a manner such that it can be depressed in a linear movement in order to open the lid, with, however, unlike in the previously mentioned design from the earlier application which has not been published before the date of the present application, an outer housing, which is connected to the foot pedal, or a casing of the refuse receptacle being depressed together with the foot pedal. In order to ensure a guided, linear movement when the outer housing or casing of the refuse receptacle is depressed, corresponding guide means are preferably provided. A very wide variety of guide means are suitable here. In particular, guide elements, such as guide rods, guide tubes or the like, can be attached to the outer housing or casing of the refuse receptacle or can be connected to the latter. These are preferably furthermore assigned guide elements, which interact with the guide means attached to the outer housing or casing of the refuse receptacle. All guide means or guide elements, which ensure good linear guidance and prevent tilting of the outer housing as it is being depressed, are suitable here. For example, guide tubes or sleeves are possible in which guide rods move, the guide rods being attached to the outer housing or vice versa.